A bee-like robot currently under development at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is part of a new generation of bots inspired by creepy crawlies.
The machine, which weighs less than a paperclip, can flap its wings up to 400 times a second and has achieved a maximum speed of two meters (6.5 feet) per second. It can also flip and hover.
“We’re just trying to mimic these amazing maneuvers that bumblebees can achieve,” says Yi-Hsuan “Nemo” Hsiao, a fourth-year PhD student who is working on the robots.
Researchers hope that it could someday help with tasks like artificial pollination, maybe even on other planets.
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